CURRENT AFFAIRS NOV/10/2015

1. ‘WORLD SCIENCE DAY FOR PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT’ OBSERVED ON 10^TH NOVEMBER

i. The World Science Day for Peace and Development was observed on 10 November.

ii. The Theme for the day is ‘Science for a Sustainable Future’

iii.The Theme for 2014 World Science Day was Quality Science Education and Ensuring a sustainable future for all.

2. ‘INDIA RE-ELECTED TO UN COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONALTRADE LAW’

i. India was re-elected by the General Assembly to a six year term on the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law.

ii.The United Nations General Assembly  established the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on 1966.

Iii.The main purpose of this commission is to promote the progressive harmonization and unification of international trade law.

3. ‘INDEPENDENT COMMISSION ON DOPING IN SPORTS’ SUBMITTED ITS REPORT TO THE WORLD ANTI-DOPING AGENCY

i Independent Commission  on Doping in Sports chaired by Richard Proud submitted its report to the World Anti-Doping Agency  in Vienna, Switzerland.

ii.The commission was formed to investigate the validity of allegations of doping practices and corrupt practices against Russia.

iii. The allegations were based on a documentary titled Top Secret Doping: How Russia makes its Winners that was aired by the news channels.

4. NIGERIA WON 2015 ‘FIFA U-17 WORLD CUP’

i. Nigeria won the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile.

ii.Nigeria defeated Mali  by 2-0 to win the FIFA U-17.

iii.The FIFA U-17 World cup is held after every 2 years ,in 2013 FIFA U-17 World cup was also won by Nigeria.

5. ‘JUSTICE AP SHAH’ APPOINTED AS THE ‘ETHICS OFFICER’ AT BCCI

i. Former Justice Ajit Prakash Shah, was appointed as the ethics officer at Board of Control for Cricket in India.

ii. He will be the sole decision maker on all conflict of interest issues relating to Indian cricket.

iii. Former Justice Ajit Prakash Shah was the Chairman of the 20th Law Commission of India.

iv. He was also the Chairman of the Committee constituted by the Union Ministry of Finance to look into Minimum Alternate Tax on Foreign Institutional Investors.

6. NARAYANASWAMI  SRINIVASAN WAS REMOVED AS THE CHAIRMAN OF THE ICC

i. Narayanaswami Srinivasan was removed as the chairman of the International Cricket Council.

ii. He will be replaced by Shashank Manohar as the chief of the world body.

iii.Former India captain and current Cricket Association of Bengal president Sourav Ganguly will replace Anil Kumble as the chairman of BCCI’s technical committee.

IPL Chairman: Rajeev Shukla

President of BCCI: Shashank Manohar

CURRENT AFFAIRS NOV/09/2015

CURRENT AFFAIRS NOV/09/2015

1. WHO OFFICIALLY DECLARED SIERRA LEONE EBOLA-FREE

i. World Health Organization announced that Sierra Leone is free of the Ebola virus.

ii). Sierra Leone recorded the first Ebola case in May 2014 and total 8704 people were infected due to this virus.

iii). Ebola is a virus, previously known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever and is a rare deadly disease caused by infection with one of the Ebola virus species.

2.   PT. SHIV KUMAR SHARMA HONOURED WITH KALA SHIKHAR AWARD

i). Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma honoured with the Aditya Vikram Birla Kala Shikhar Award for lifetime achievement.

ii). Aditya Vikram Birla Kala Shikhar Puraskaar was instituted by the Sangit Kala Kendra in the memory of Aditya Vikram Birla.

iii). The award is conferred to distinguished artist for their lifetime achievement in the chosen field of the performing and visual arts.

3.   WHAT HAPPENED TO NETAJI? BOOK WRITTEN BY FORMER JOURNALIST ANUJ DHAR RELEASED

i). Book titled What Happened to Netaji? Released by former journalist Anuj Dhar was released.

ii). The book explains about Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose  who lived in several parts of Uttar Pradesh .

iii).The book explains about the controversy surrounding the fate of Subhas Chandra Bose and controversy about his death.

4.   GRAND ALLIANCE WON THE 2015 ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS OF BIHAR WITH MAJORITY

i). Election Commission of India announced the results of the 2015 Assembly elections of Bihar.

ii). Mahagathbandhan of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Janata dal (UNITED) and Indian National Congress  emerged as the winner of the election with two-third majority.

iii). BJP won 53 seats ,Indian National Congress won 27,Janata Dal (United)71,Lok Jan Shakti Party2,Rashtriya Janata Dal won 80

CURRENT AFFAIRS NOV/08/2015

CURRENT AFFAIRS NOV/08/2015

1.     INDIA-RUSSIA JOINT MILITARY EXERCISE INDRA-2015 STARTED

                 i.      The India-Russia Joint Military Exercise ‘Indra-2015’ has started in Bikaner district of Rajasthan.

               ii.      The aim of the exercise is to ‘Counter Terrorism Operations in Desert Terrain under a United Nations Mandate’

             iii.      The bilateral exercise will boost people to people as well as military to military ties between India and Russia.

2.     INDIAN RAILWAYS WON INDIAN OIL SURJIT HOCKEY TOURNAMENT

                 i.      Indian Railways has won Indian Oil Surjit Hockey tournament for the first time at Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium in Jalandhar, Punjab.

               ii.      Indian Railways team defeated Indian Oil Mumbai.

             iii.      Surjit Memorial Hockey Tournament is an annual hockey tournament organized by Surjit Hockey Society in the memory of Surjit Singh Randhawa in jalandhar Punjab.

             iv.      Surjit Singh was an Indian field hockey player and was captain of hockey team.

3.     HEENA SIDHU WON GOLD MEDAL AT 13TH ASIAN SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIPS

                 i.      Indian shooter Heena Sidhu has won Gold medal in 10 metre Air Pistol event in women’s category at 13th Asian Shooting Championships held in Kuwait.

               ii.      10m air pistol junior title for women are won by Shri Nivetha with gold medal.

             iii.      Junior skeet men’s competition: Angad Bajwa of India won the individual gold medal.

4.     OFF-SPINNER RAVICHANDRAN ASHWIN FASTEST INDIAN TO REACH 150 TEST WICKETS

              i.         Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin now became the fastest Indian bowler to reach 150 wickets in the Indian test cricket history.

            ii.         The previous record was held by Colin Blythe of England.

CURRENT AFFAIRS NOV/07/2015

CURRENT AFFAIRS NOV/07/2015

1. NAVTEJ SINGH SARNA APPOINTED AS INDIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER TO UNITED KINGDOM

i. Navtej Singh Sarna  appointed as Indian High Commissioner to United Kingdom.

ii. Earlier he was in the Ministry of External Affairs looking after country’s diplomatic affairs with the UK and other European nations.

iii. He has also served as Indian Ambassador to Israel.

2.'INDIA IN SHANGHAI’ CULTURAL WEEK INAUGURATED AT SHANGHAI

i. ‘India in Shanghai’ cultural week was inaugurated at China Shanghai International Arts Festival at the Shanghai Grand Theatre in china.

ii. The festival began on 16 October and will continue till 16 November 2015.

iii. The Purpose of India Culture Week is to have a better understanding of India among Chinese people.

iv. ‘Visit India Year in China’ is a tag given to year 2015 to encourage more Chinese tourists to travel to India.

3. UNION GOVERNMENT TO IMPOSE 0.5% SWACHH BHARAT CESS ON ALL SERVICES

i. Union Ministry of Finance decided to impose 0.5 percent Swachh Bharat Cess on all taxable services.

ii. It will be levied in addition to the 14 percent service tax.

iii. The amount collected from this will be used to support Swachh Bharat initiative.

iv. The Union Government is planning to spend around 134000 crore rupees by 2019 to construct 11 crore 11 lakh toilets in the country under Swachh Bharat Mission.

4. UNITED NATIONS CELEBRATED 70 YEARS OF ITS ESTABLISHMENT

i. United Nations celebrated 70 years of its establishment on 24 October 2015.

ii. To mark this historic occasion, a special Annual General Assembly was held at its headquarters in New York.

iii. The United Nation was formed on 24 October 1945 with an aim to maintain international peace and security and achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character.

5. RBI ISSUED GUIDELINES FOR INTERNET BANKING FOR COOPERATIVE BANKS

i. Reserve Bank of India issued guidlines on Internet Banking for all licensed cooperative banks including Urban Cooperative Banks, Cooperative Banks and Districts Co-operative Banks.

ii. These guidelines relate to Internet Banking facility and Internet Banking with Transaction facility.

iv. All licensed Urban Cooperative Banks, Cooperative Banks and Districts Co-operative Banks which have implemented Core Banking Solution and migrated to Internet Protocol Version 6 may offer Internet Banking facility to their customers, without prior approval of RBI.

6. 21ST INCOFYRA TO BE HELD IN BENGALURU IN 2016

i. The 21st International Conference on Frontiers in Yoga Research and its Applications will be held at Prashanti Kutiram, Bengaluru.

ii. The event will began from 3 to 7 January in 2016.

iii. The theme of the conference is ‘Yoga in Integrated Healthcare Systems’

iv. The conference targets to promote the research findings in the field of medicine, Dialectology, Cardiology and Mental Health.

CURRENT AFFAIRS NOV/06/2015

• CURRENT AFFAIRS NOV/06/2015
• 1. Jitu Rai wins silver in 13th Asian Shooting Championship

Ace Indian shooter Jitu Rai has won silver medal in 50 metre pistol event category at the 13th Asian Shooting Championship held in Kuwait City. With this historic victory Jitu became India’s first senior player to win the Asian Shooting Championship.

In the final match he was defeated by Korea's Park Daehun who shot a record score of 199.2 to clinch the gold medal. Jitu finshed with a finals score of 189.5 to win a silver medal.

In the junior events of the championships, India got four medals as India's Akhil Sheoran won a silver medal and Prashant won a bronze respectively. N Gayathri won  silver in the junior women's 50m rifle prone event with a score of 614.6. Gauri Sheoran, Heena Sidhu and Annu Raj Singh were not able to qualify for the finals in the women’s 25 metre pistol event. 

2.Cabinet approves MoU between India and Belgium in the field of energy

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved a Memorandum of Understanding which has been signed between Indian and Belgian government for cooperation in development of new and renewable energy technologies. The MoU was signed between Indian and Belgian government authorities at the Federal and regional level for energy.

Objective of MoU  :- To establish the basis for a cooperative institutional relationship to encourage and promote technical bilateral cooperation on new and renewable energy issues on the basis of mutual benefit, equality and reciprocity.

Areas of cooperation :- The areas of cooperation will focus on development of new and renewable energy technologies in the field of wind energy, biomass, solar (thermal and photovoltaic), smart grids, geothermal energy, marine energy, contribution of renewables to diversification of supply and energy security, and any other mutually agreed areas

3. Former Indian Ambassador to Nepal Bimal Prasad passes away

India's former Ambassador to Nepal  and renowned historian Bimal Prasad, passed away in New Delhi at the age of 92.Prasad was a close associate of independence activist, social reformer and political leader Jayaprakash Narayan.

Facts to know :-

• Born in 1925 Bimal Prasad was an intellectual with socialist inclinations and was well known for his postcolonial analysis of the Indian independence movement.
• Prasad was professor of history at University of Patna, Patna and then South Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, and served as Dean, School of International Studies.

Ambassador to Nepal :- He was appointed ambassador to Nepal by Prime Minister Chandrashekhar (1991–1995)

Other  Responsibilities :-

He was Chairman, Institute of Gandhian Studies (Varanasi), Director, Gandhi Smriti and Memorial, Honorary Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) and Honorary Director, Rajendra Prasad Academy in New Delhi. He was Senior Fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and Visiting Professor at the University of Leeds.

Education :- He was a graduate of Patna University and he went as a Fulbright Scholar to Columbia University and did his Ph.D. On the 'Origins of India's Foreign Policy' which became a seminal work.

Books's authored by him :- He had authored a number of  books on JPs philosophy and life including Socialism, Sarvodaya and Democracy, Gandhi, Nehru and JP, Studies in Leadership and A Revolutionarys Quest.

4. Union Government inking MoU with Colombia on tourism

• The union cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the signing of an MoU with Colombia for strengthening cooperation in the tourism sector. The MoU will be signed between the Union Tourism Ministry and Ministry of Trade Industry and Tourism of Colombia.
• Signing of an MoU in the field of tourism would enable both countries to enter into a constructive dialogue for development and promotion of tourism in each other's country for the economic development of the two nations.

Objective of the MoU :- 

• The MoU will help expand bilateral cooperation in the tourism sector and encourage cooperation between tourism stakeholders, including hotels and tour operators. 
• Other objectives include exchange visits of tour operators, media and opinion makers for promotion of two-way tourism, participation in travel fairs and exhibitions in both countries and exchange experiences in promotion, marketing, destination development and management.
• 5. Varanasi selected for Microsoft's experimental Internet pilot proj

Varanasi the pilgrim town in Uttar Pradesh has been selected by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella for the ambitious Digital India programme. In it's project Microsoft will also fund local entrepreneurs aiming to build devices that can overcome India’s bandwidth crunch.

Varanasi is among Microsoft’s two pilot projects in India to provide low-cost Internet to villages the first venue is a government school in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh.

Microsoft wants to help build low-cost Internet infrastructure through a slightly different approach his company would use idle television broadcasting spectrum to operate devices developed by the local entrepreneurs.

Other IT giants that are taking part in Digital revolution of India :-
• Google received permission from the Indian government earlier this month to provide Internet using large balloons that float 20 km above the earth’s surface. 
• Facebook announced in October that it would launch a satellite next year in collaboration with the French company Eutelsat to provide low-cost Internet to 14 sub-Saharan African countries.

CURRENT AFFAIRS NOV/05/2015

CURRENT AFFAIRS NOV/05/2015

1. INDIAN BOXER SHIV THAPA RANKED NO.2 SPOT IN WORLD RANKINGS

i. Ace Indian boxer Shiva Thapa has been ranked at second spot in the latest international rankings of boxing in the 56 kg category.

ii.The top spot in the 56 kilogram category was grabbed by Michael Conlan from Ireland.

2. JITU RAI WON SILVER IN 13TH ASIAN SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP

i. Ace shooter Jitu Rai grabbed India's first senior medal at the 13th Asian Shooting Championship in Kuwait City.

ii. He won the silver in the finals of the men's 50 metre pistol event.

iii.India also won four silver and two bronze medals in the junior events of the championships.

3. JUSTICE T.S. THAKUR WILL BE NEXT CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA

i. Justice T S Thakur  will be next Chief Justice of India and he will replace  CJI Justice Dattu.

ii.Justice Thakur is the senior most judge of the Supreme Court.

iii.He would be the 43rd CJI.

CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA: JUSTICE H.L DATTU

4. JUSTICE MB SHAH SUBMITTED REPORT ON BLACK MONEY

i. Special Investigation Team on Black Money headed by MB shah submitted its third report to the Union Ministry of Finance.

ii.The SIT found that over 2600 persons are directors on more than 20 companies and at least 20 companies are operating from the same address at 345 places which indicate the violation of Companies Act, 2013.

iii.The Special Investigation Team on Black Money was constituted by the Union Cabinet in May 2014.

iv.The sit was formed on the directions of the Supreme Court to go deeper into the cases of black money where Indians have stashed their assets abroad and also suggest policy measures to combat the illegal activity.

5. TATA MOTORS APPOINTED LIONEL MESSI AS GLOBAL BRAND AMBASSADOR FOR ITS PASSENGER VEHICLES

i. Tata Motors appointed Argentina’s football player Lionel Messi as Global Brand Ambassador for its passenger vehicles.

ii.Tata Motors will be the first Indian brand endorsed by the international sports icon.

iii.Lionel Messi is four consecutive times Best Player of the World and now he is the captain of Argentina football team.

6. FLIPKART APPOINTED SUROJIT CHATTERJEE AS HEAD OF CONSUMER EXPERIENCE AND GROWTH

i. India’s e-commerce giant Flipkart appointed Surojit Chatterjee as the Senior Vice-President and Head of Consumer Experience and Growth.

ii. Surojit Chatterjee will be responsible for consumer experience across desktop and mobile.

iii. Flipkart is an e-commerce company founded in 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal.